Breast engorgement is an overfilling of the breast with milk. This condition may be accompanied by breast swelling, hardness, heat and/or throbbing, and may cause mild to severe pain. Engorgement can occur when an infant is not removing sufficient amounts of milk from the breast, such as shortly after birth, failure of the infant to latch on well, during infant illness, or during transition to solid foods during weaning. Engorgement can also occur when a mother chooses not to breast feed her newborn. Engorgement can occur in one or both breasts.
To date there have been very few treatments for breast engorgement. Treatments such as cold packs, baths, and massage have been recommended to treat symptoms of engorgement. However, these treatments can be inconvenient and are often ineffective or only partially effective at reducing symptoms, and are temporary. Analgesics have also been utilized to treat symptoms of engorgement but their effectiveness has not been verified. Another treatment that has been utilized to treat symptoms of breast engorgement is the application of cabbage leaves to the breast. This treatment can also be inconvenient and has proven to have limited success.
It would be advantageous to provide alternative methods and treatments for alleviating breast engorgement.